The Atlantic League leader in losses (11) and home runs allowed (19) snapped the Patriots’ season-best five-game winning streak by tossing eight innings of one-hit ball in a 1-0 victory.

Massetti retired the final 16 batters he faced — a string that began when he stranded the Patriots’ only two base runners of the night in scoring position in the third inning. Yusuf Carter walked with one out and Joe Holden singled with two outs.

Chris Oxspring’s season of tough luck continued as he suffered the loss despite surrendering one run on three hits and two walks in eight innings. He struck out 10 and is now 2-5 in his nine quality starts — with a total of 13 runs of support.

The Road Warriors scored when Alberto Cruz led off the sixth with a double and came home on Marcos Cabral’s one-out single.

Massetti walked one and struck out three but was pulled in favor of Adam Thomas, who notched the save.

Referring to hard-nosed Joe Burke as “old school” could have a new meaning in the near future.

While Burke has not made any definitive decisions regarding his playing career beyond this season, the 27-year-old first baseman for the Somerset Patriots has begun pursuing a coaching position in the college baseball ranks.

“I would like to teach the game to younger guys who are still learning and not yet set in their ways,” Burke said. “I was always a decent athlete, but I prided myself on doing things right.”

That certainly has been on the book on Burke throughout his tenure with the Patriots, who Tuesday night played a road doubleheader against the Long Island Ducks.

“He has got a good feel for the game,” said Patriots director of player personnel Brett Jodie, who first acquired Burke in September 2008. “I think he sees it from a lot of different angles and has a grasp of where everybody should be on any given play.”

The field at TD Bank Ballpark was covered in about five feet of water Sunday…

The view Sunday afternoon from any of the 6,100 seats inside TD Bank Ballpark was of an impromptu lake and not of the regular baseball diamond.

An estimated five feet of water covered the Somerset Patriots’ home field and the first five rows of stands and left fish swimming in the dugouts as a result of the flooding in Bridgewater and surrounding Somerset County communities caused by Hurricane Irene.

but the water has drained and the staff has been working to clean up the facility. (Courtesy of the Patriots)

By Monday afternoon, however, most of the water had drained and the grounds crew and front-office staff embarked on a massive clean-up project in hopes of opening the ballpark in time for Wednesday’s 7 p.m. game against the Road Warriors.

“The grass might not be as completely green and the warning track of composite material might be a different color,” Patriots owner Steve Kalafer said, “but we’re working around the clock to make certain that our standards of quality are filled at the ballpark.”

The late-summer soul search that has greeted Jeff Nettles ever since his 31st birthday recently turned up some rare concrete answers.

The most accomplished player in the history of the Somerset Patriots and the independent Atlantic League said earlier this week that he intends to stretch his professional baseball career into next season and possibly beyond.

“In the past, I’ve had other influences leading me toward getting into coaching or doing something else,” said Nettles, who mulled retirement after each of the previous two seasons. “What I’ve realized is that ultimately I have to look after my own well-being and what I’m happiest doing.”

As the 2011 Patriots’ leader in home runs and RBI, the 33-year-old third baseman has proven he has plenty left to offer. He trailed only longtime teammate Josh Pressley in total bases, slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging percentage going into the weekend.

Coming off of back-to-back wins against a winning team, the Patriots had their momentum interrupted Saturday by Hurricane Irene.

The series finale between the Patriots and Camden Riversharks at Campbell’s Field was rained out after originally being rescheduled from a 7 p.m. to a noon start. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader set for 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 16.

The Atlantic League schedule had the Patriots traveling to Long Island to begin a three-game series Sunday, but that plan has been changed.

The game already has been postponed and will be part of a 6 p.m. doubleheader Tuesday. The teams will face each other Monday, too.

In roster news, shortstop Brandon Chaves was released after going 1-for-13 in his first four games since signing. Pitcher Ron Villone was placed on the inactive list.

CAMDEN — Luke Sommer knows a thing or two about making transitions. He entered professional baseball as an outfielder and the Chicago Cubs turned him into a successful relief pitcher. Now the Somerset Patriots are trying to transform the lefthander into a starter, and the early returns are encouraging.

Last weekend, in his second start, Sommer tossed five shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out six against Bridgeport. He gets the ball again today at noon as the Patriots wrap up a three-game series at the Camden Riversharks.

Nicholas R.W. Henning is the author of two Australian-themed baseball books, including the semi-autobiographical Boomerang Baseball, which was published earlier this year. He wrote Australia’s first baseball novel and maintains a regular baseball blog.

PP: Where is baseball’s place in the Australian sports landscape? Is it a common site to see children playing baseball in Australia? Or is it more niche and only in organized leagues?

NH: Baseball is overshadowed by other marquee sports in the Australian sporting landscape such as cricket, Australia Rules Football, rugby league and rugby union. However, for several decades modified versions of the game like tee-ball and softball are played in nearly every school in Australia. Organized baseball leagues are quite stable, and baseball is played all year round in Australia, but participation rates are lower than other emerging sports like soccer and basketball.

The most exclusive baseball club to which Justin Huber and Chris Oxspring belong reduces a continent of 21 million people to a fraternity of 29 brothers.

In a land where cricket is king and rugby, soccer and tennis are considered major sports, the native Australian teammates with the Somerset Patriots are two of the most accomplished niche athletes.

In America, they more simply are referred to as Major League Baseball players.

“(They) are both fairly unknown to the average Australian,” said Nicolas R.W. Henning, author of two Australian-themed baseball books. “To an Australian baseball fan, though, they are true royalty.”

Nineteen Australians took the path less traveled to the major leagues prior to the debuts of Huber, an outfielder, and Oxspring, a pitcher, with the Kansas City Royals and San Diego Padres, respectively, during the summer of 2005. Only eight others have done it since that nine-week span.

But, as both players can attest, earning a spot in select company does not come without conquering challenges bigger than anything faced between the lines.

“You can’t be the same as everybody else as a foreigner because you are a big expense to a team,” Oxspring said in reference to the high costs of flights and visas. “I definitely felt like if I didn’t succeed I was going home before (Americans) were. That was a good motivator.”

The easy going Jeff Kennard who hangs around the Somerset Patriots’ clubhouse chatting up teammates most afternoons barely would recognize the intense pitcher who commands the mound late in games.

The dichotomy of Kennard’s personality is equally responsible for making him one of the most liked players and most effective pitchers on the struggling Patriots, who Tuesday night faced the Lancaster Barnstormers at TD Bank Ballpark.

“He gets so pumped up out there that I think it kind of hurt him last year,” pitching coach Brett Jodie said. “This year, he has learned to harness his intensity, let himself relax and allow his ability to take over. It’s a quiet storm.”

BRIDGEWATER — The latest insult to the Somerset Patriots can be filed as a case of mistaken identity.

Long associated with winning, the Patriots officially are assured of their first losing record since 1998 – a fate sealed when they suffered their 64th defeat of the season Tuesday night against the Lancaster Barnstormers.

“The biggest thing (wrong) is we just can’t get it done,” manager Sparky Lyle said. “We’ve lost every single way you can lose.”

The Patriots, who lost 9-1 to the Barnstormers at TD Bank Ballpark on Wednesday night to complete a 2-9 homestand, posted a .552 winning percentage and won five championships during an Atlantic League-best stretch of 13 non-losing seasons.

The Long Island Ducks’ active streak of 10 seasons is the next best mark of its kind in league history.

“We might have made it seem like it was easy, but it’s not,” said third baseman Jeff Nettles, who was part of winning teams in each of his first seven seasons with the Patriots. “You have to have the right hitters and the right pitchers at the right time.”